The present invention relates to the cleaning of bowling lanes to remove previously applied oil layers and the associated grimy dirt and dust prior to placement of a new, clean film of oil on the lane. More particularly, it relates to a new method and apparatus for using a lane cleaning solvent in a more efficient way than heretofore possible, while at the same time achieving more effective cleaning results.
Bowling lanes must be periodically cleaned to remove dirt and grime, as well as previously applied, thin films of oil before a new layer of oil is laid down. A number of different machines are currently available for accomplishing this cleaning function, several of which spray a liquid cleaner on the surface of the lane and immediately pick it back up from the lane surface using a squeegee and vacuum head associated with the machine as the machine moves from the foul line down toward the pin deck area. While these machines are satisfactory in many respects, they also use a great deal of cleaner and tend to leave a film residue on the lane due to incomplete pickup by the squeegee and vacuum head.
Accordingly, one important object of the present invention is to provide a new method of cleaning the oil layer and dirty grime from the surface of a bowling lane which is significantly more efficient in terms of the amount of cleaning liquid used than prior techniques, yet which does not sacrifice the cleaning quality and in fact actually increases the overall level of cleaning performance. In this regard, it is also an important object of the present invention to provide a novel machine or apparatus for carrying out the improved cleaning method of the present invention.
In furtherance of these objectives, the present invention contemplates using the cleaning solvent much more sparingly than in the past. Solvent which is applied to the lane to loosen the oil and grime from the lane surface is acted upon by a spreader element before ever approaching the liquid with the pickup squeegee so that the liquid resting on the lane is metered into a thin, evenly distributed film before being engaged and uplifted from the lane surface by the pickup squeegee and associated suction head. As the spreader element moves along the lane surface, it pushes ahead of itself a small pool or bead of the liquid while allowing only a thin, metered film to actually pass beneath the element back to the pickup area of the machine. Preferably, the liquid is sprayed onto the lane in intermittent discharges of such duration and frequency that although there is always a small bead of liquid pushed ahead of the wiping element, such bead of liquid does not become excessively large. On the other hand, the discharge is frequent enough that the wiping element never fails to have a bead of liquid associated along its lower front margin.
The wiping element is preferably comprised by a point of tangential engagement between a web of absorbent material looped under an arcuate contour, such as the lower margin of a cushion roller, and the lane surface. Some of the oil, liquid, and dirt is picked up by the wiping web itself due to its absorbent nature, but a large portion of such materials pass in the thin film beneath the material web back to the squeegee, where they are totally removed from the lane""s surface, preferably by a suction head.
The web of material is controlled by a specially operated pay out roller and takeup roller so that a fresh area of the web is presented to the lane surface after the completion of a pass down the bowling lane and at the commencement of the return trip back toward the foul line. Programmable controls associated with the web takeup mechanism and the squeegee, as well as the discharging nozzle, permit the operation of the machine to be coordinated with travel along the lane surface. Preferably, the cleaning apparatus of the present invention, and the method associated therewith, are incorporated into a machine which can automatically index itself from one lane to another without operator intervention, all as disclosed in our application Ser. No. 07/713,725 filed Jun. 11, 1991, and titled BOWLING LANE MAINTENANCE MACHINE CAPABLE OF SELF-INDEXING FROM LANE-TO-LANE.